Q (not QFC) opens on Broadway

In which a shall-we-say "well-seasoned" journalist takes a walk on the wilder side, and finds he's not entirely alone when it comes to older folks partaking of Capitol Hill nightlife.

A new venue for electronic music in a century-old garage at Broadway and Pike, a nightclub named Q opened this weekend. At 12,000 square feet, with room for 700 party-goers, it's the same size, give or take, as the Showbox or the Last Supper Club. The owners hope it marks the beginning of an exodus of clubs away from Pioneer Square.

Co-owner and managing partner Scott Smith has done this before, in NYC's Chelsea district, where he created a high-tech, high-design club and gay bar called xl, the first nightclub in the country to feature computer-aided LED lighting..Q, he says, will be "a neighborhood club where you can expect exceptional music every day of the week."

Cornichon went for a look as a guest of the management.

Sidewalk: Velvet ropes on the Broadway sidewalk, half a dozen large and extremely courteous security guys and tiny, extremely polite young women with clipoards

Corridor: long, narrow and undulating, concrete wall on one side, glossy finish on other, with photobooth at the end and another check point where more extremely polite young women stamp your hand, offer glass of Champagne.

Music: electronic, as promised. Funktion One sound system unique on west coast. Speakers are normally purple, but that would have clashed with the interior design (by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson), so they're powdered-coated white. Employees will be outfitted with earplugs, which will keep them smiling and genial.

Balcony: You can almost reach out and touch the gyrating lights as they cast their beams on the dance floor below. Built into the wall: vents that occasionally emit blasts of mist. Should you set your drink on the ledge, an extremely polite security dude will remind you to keep at least one hand on the glass.

Distinguished guest: Sitting in one of those chairs, an elegant Joe Biden look-alike is actually co-owner Scott Smith's dad, 72-year-old Lacey T. Smith from Louisville, Ky, dressed in blazer, French cuffs, paisely tie. A former state legislator and retired lawyer (Harvard Law School), Smith is the author of "Get It!" Subtitle is: "Street-Smart Negotiation at Work: How Emotions Get What You Want." Mr. Smith looked very satisfied with his son's accomplishments.